A poem by Stefan Lessmann/
Speaking is Harder When You Want to
Speaking is harder when you want to
leaving the tongue like a ball on the ground.
He throws like a girl
but only when he has taken the ball.
Throwing is harder when you aim
leaving the sound like a leaf on the ground.
The tongue erects like a man
but only when it has touched the mouth.
Touching is easier with a ball between them
leaving no tongue as a ground for new sounds.
The speech collapses like an aim
and the ball can go wherever it wants.
(c) Stefan Lessmann 2020
Images: Details of prints (mouths) from Donatello’s St. George (Marble, 1416, Florence, Museo die Orsanmichele), Nanni di Banco’s St. Philip (Marble, 1410-1412, Florence, Museo di Orsanmichele) and St. Luke (Marble, 1408-1413, Florence, Museo dell’opera dell duomo).
cf. Donatello und Nanni di Banco. Die Prophetenfiguren für die Strebepfeiler des Florentiner Domes. Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz,17. Bd., H. 1 (1973), pp. 1-28
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